Memories Through The Compact
by WhileDreaming
Summary: A re-imagining of Ao starting from Episodes of 12-13... Various scenes will flash back and forth between Eureka 7 (in between that series' episodes and after) and Ao in an attempt to bridge this new imagining as well as Ao's existence himself.
1. Prologue - Loading

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN EUREKA 7 AND EUREKA 7 AO, THAT WOULD BE BONES AND THE TEAM THAT MADE THE EUREKA 7 AND AO POSSIBLE.

(EXCEPT I OWN WHAT I WILL ADD HERE SOON [OR NOT])

REVIEWS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE MOST WELCOME!

* * *

Introduction:

I am a huge fan of Eureka 7 and Ao. But since Ao left us huge plot holes due to various factors we as fans might or might not understand, I will attempt to make a re-imagining of Ao starting from Episode 12-13, but where:

1.) Truth does not _exist_. A such in this universe, all events where episodes Truth had a hand in and was involved in, are altered.

2.) The Secrets- being the natural antibodies of _this world_ exists.

3.) That _the Trapar_ will not cause a rejection among Human and Coralian cells. Therefore, the occurrences of Corral Carriers are that of a mild condition rather than a life-threatening one _in incidences of high trapar levels_. Don't worry, part of the plot involves the reason why Ao is still living in the 21st century.

4.) Ao is the _firstborn._

Various scenes will flash back and forth between Eureka 7 (in between that series' episodes and after) and Ao in an attempt to bridge this new imagining as well as Ao's existence himself with escalating hostilities between various factions due to certain factors. You will notice _changes_ from the original content of Ao and that this story will also have its own series of events after Eureka 7 in order to fit the story-line.

* * *

Memories Through The Compact

Prelude: Loading

2025 A.D. Earth: Pacific Ocean

The main screen suddenly glowed a soft green light just as the Gekko's Compact Drives connected to the Triton's computers started to respond- the green luminescent inscriptions suddenly flowing within the depths of its triangular panels.

The program in front of them flashed:

Initiating

Data Interface...

Even as a strange doodle of a man's head and nose wearing a bowler hat; Georg- the Operating System, repeated the words on the screen in a miniature of itself at the far right corner of the screen. It seemed to be rotating around itself as it showed the progress of how much of the Gekko's software has been loaded into the program.

Ao Fukai felt a rush of anticipation even as a twinge of guilt settled along the pit of his stomach.

'_It wasn't my fault, it was bound to happen anyway, I was just fighting... for me and my mother's lives. _' These thoughts surged on to the forefront of his mind just as he thought of the memories that lay unbidden: It was the time where he first destroyed a Japanese jet plane using the Mark I- the Nirvash, the jet's pilot killed instantly as the bullets fired from his machine reached the pilot first before he had the chance to eject and this by extension, was his first act of taking a life: of committing murder.

It didn't help that Noah- the sloth that Naru entrusted to him, was hugging snugly at the front of his chest.

In a heartbeat, his life has changed; from being an outcast on Okinawa to becoming an IFO pilot under Generation Bleu and to fly in space! That experience was strange in itself; no trapar to guide him in that vast starry sea!

Sure he missed the island itself, his adopted father (or grandfather, he mused) as well as Naru who accepted him even after his hair turned back into its natural shade of turquoise.

But the driving motivation of leaving it all was that of finding his mother who he knew beyond belief (and maybe because of an inherent drive of all children to find their moms) was forced to leave him. But as he looked back on the events of today's mission: finding more about his mom through Team Harlequin and Moma Hanna, at last meeting his mother even if it was only him who knew of their relations to one another and of the heart wrenching ache that he had to return her back to wherever and whenever she came from; he wondered how much pain would befall upon him before all of this was said and done?

Ao realized he was balling his hands into fists even as a pair of hands descended upon his shoulders. Ivica Tanovic, Team Pied Piper's Chief gave him a knowing look has he knelt down to Ao's level.

"I've been through hell a dozen times to know what's going on inside your head. But take my advice from this old dog of war- we're here to back you up." With that, the chief smiled even as Ao's teammates: Fleur Blanc and Elena Peoples suddenly roughed up his turquoise hair.

_'Oh mother...'_ the boy mentally sighed, his thoughts wondered back to that fateful meeting just hours ago even as his eyes hovered back at the soft green glow of the loading screen.

* * *

2025 A.D. Switzerland: Generation Blue Headquarters

Back in Generation Bleu's Information And Technology Department, Christophe Blanc looked up at the technicians and programmers that were recording and studying the information being processed from the all software extracted from that sunken ship (the Gekko as it was reported) via the Compact Drive Interfacing Program built in within the O.S. Georg. This is because, as their Information And Technology Department head puts it: "At present, our primitive software can't possibly decipher the twelfth millennia data taken from that ship."

It was an initiative from studying and reverse engineering that portable machine or the "Compact Drive" that Eureka had some thirteen years ago. Although that Compact Drive they studied was taken away also by her when she mysteriously disappeared.

Fortunately by that time, they had enough information regarding it to conclude that it was a "key of sorts" to powering and interfacing certain machinery and software from wherever Eureka was from.

Scientists also reported a minor spike in trapar activity whenever a Compact Drive is in use. One scientist hypothesized its use as a trapar amplifier.

But they couldn't possibly be certain due to the lack of data at the time with the disappearance of Eureka and her Compact Drive.

The techies, engineers and programmers worked on what little they had with the Drive; using that and combining the latest technological advances of their time, it became more convenient to study those technologies that they sometimes discovered buried deep within the Scub.

Through this, they have made leaps and bounds in the technological realm- it made it possible to make Georg, their current technology, with the basis of the Mark I/ RA272 Nirvash; their Intelligent Flying Objects (IFO's) and a boost in their economic status.

The reason for the latter is that aside from the funds generated from fighting the Secrets and their sponsors, another was from patents (those considered to be authorized to be patented) that were reverse engineered from the techs found within the Scub. As a precaution, they released enough patents in between the years as to not to earn the attraction of different potential or already hostile factions.

But with the discovery of the Gekko; its software and Compact Drives, things would be a bit different.

Most of the technologies that they have found within the Scub were already wrecked or so damaged that software gathering was either impossible or limited for proper study and research. But with the Gekko however...

Even though they had it sunk, the data salvaged from its software and its Drives would be enough for them to work with.

"That would be interesting." the President of Generation Bleu muttered.

Imagine... all that advanced technology and info just waiting to be discovered! With all that under the Generation Blue, they essentially would no longer have to depend much of their funding from their sponsors- especially from Big Blue World, an American company and their chief sponsor. But of course, since more is better, they would still have them as their sponsors.

Although with today's events he was sure that there will be casualties on the economic front, with some sponsors dropping off. The president sighed, he'll have to pull off some diplomatic magic out of somewhere soon before more of their sponsors drop off from Generation Bleu.

The president now turned his eyes on the loading screen that's now currently showing at ninety percent completion of loading the entire software of the sunken Gekko into the interfacing program.

It's kind of surprising, most of the time; most military ships usually have a Spartan-like approach to their programming: keeping what's the most important and relevant programs for a streamlined approach in the event of an attack. However, in the case of the Gekko, there seemed to be a lot of data stored within that ship.

"I wonder, what's your story?"


	2. Before It Explodes

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN EUREKA 7 AND EUREKA 7 AO, THAT WOULD BE BONES AND THE TEAM THAT MADE THE EUREKA 7 AND AO POSSIBLE.

(EXCEPT I OWN WHAT I WILL ADD HERE SOON [OR NOT])

REVIEWS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE MOST WELCOME!

* * *

NOTE: PRESENTLY, THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER I'VE WRITTEN SO FAR.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYBODY!

* * *

Memories Through The Compact

Chapter 1 – Before It Explodes

2025 A.D. Earth: Space, Right Above the Pacific Ocean- Approximately Twenty Four Hours Before Data Retrieval

The huge pieces of the main Scub Coral began to fragment from its decent towards the Earth's atmosphere. Lighter chunks blasting off of it as it is blown away by the friction of the air itself and giving the whole thing a tail similar to a comet as it plummets down from the starry sky.

On the contrary to the impending doom all around it, the RA 272 Nirvash lay down on its surface as if it was on the bed. It didn't help that Earth's gravity is chaining it to the Scub. Within the IFO, Ao thought frantically in working a way to get himself out of this burning mass without getting cooked to death. But those thoughts were beginning to die out even as both Team Pied Piper and Team Harlequin watched on from their respective motherships.

It was useless, the Nirvash did not have enough power to escape the Earth's gravity and so, even with the success of destroying the Secret before it could approach the Scub and causing the nations' satellites to fall into the Earth- Ao will die before he could see the end of his goal: to meet his mom.

Although another morbid thought settled to him, one that he absolutely refuses to acknowledge- his mom might already be dead.

"Damn it!" he cursed. Even with the Nirvash's self regulating systems, he could feel the heat rising within his cockpit. Soon and no doubt with Georg's approximations: the Nirvash will burn and with it, its pilot if it doesn't find a way out.

Suddenly, the patch of corral above him opened up into a cavernous maw- enough for the Nirvash to get through!

"Hurry Ao! Get inside!" shouted Ivica from Team Pied Piper's mothership, Triton.

Immediately, the Nirvash crawled into that hole in the Scub, the temperature dropped as the mass of corral outside of the Nirvash took the brunt of the heat. As the large IFO trudged on within the Scub, Ao noticed a mass of metal right at the very pit. All around him, Ao could feel the vibrations and rumblings of the Scub breaking off itself as it fell.

"What is that?" he wondered.

In a few moments, the Nirvash approached what seems to be part of an exhaust port, grasping its metallic hands on that slab of metal and then-*CRACK* the chunks of the Scub around him broke apart. Though it would be more proper to say it blasted itself off as the burning air swept off the remaining pieces of Scub clean off the metal slab that the Nirvash held on to.

The heat within the cockpit rose sharply to what seems to be something akin of being inside a furnace and Ao grunted at his discomfort.

Through the Nirvash's reprojection of the world outside of him, he could see that he was holding on to some kind of aircraft resembling that of a long necked bird. He could partially see a viewing deck where he assumed would be the bridge- the command center of the ship. For now, the burning air around them bathed everything in a red glow.

Suddenly Ao heard a deep metallic crunch just to his right!

'_What the...' _Ao incredulously gaped at the sight: A large metallic arm swung through his field of vision, revealing a compact humanoid form complete with a protrusion on its back for its boosters and a cockpit- an IFO! But strangely, except for the separations of the board attached to its arms; looking at the head and core body proportions, this IFO looks very similar to his own Nirvash.

Walking through the burning ship while its feet's electromagnets digging into the hull, this strange, new IFO suddenly crouches, its hands balancing itself as if it were surfing! Its hind arm that faced Ao motioned for him to get up.

"It's telling me to use the ship as a board?" Ao wondered even as he obliged the unspoken command.

At last, breaking through the cool stratosphere, and away from the solar glare , Ao could see clearly the white and green colors of the ship and the red/white colorations of the IFO.

_'Isn't this the Nirvash that Momma Hana showed to me in the video?' _Ao thought, his mind briefly wondered towards the video which showed how his mother arrived in this world and would later on give birth to him. Through the reprojections of the world outside, Ao could now read out the softly glowing dust that marked the air currents- the trapar! It felt good to have them guide him again.

As they approached the waters of the setting Pacific Ocean, he heard a mental call within his mind:

"Let us fly!" with that, the Nirvash infront of him released its boards from its arms and fused them. In a heartbeat, it jumped on and surfed the skies just as the RA272 got itself on its own board.

With that, they safely watched as the ship safely cruised to a stop afloat the Pacific ocean.

Seconds later, both of them landed on the fallen ship's wing, stable enough to support the weight of both of them.

Immediately, Ao released his safety belts from within the cockpit and opened the canopy- just in time to see the other pilot from the other IFO do the same in the light of the setting sun. Turqiouse haired and a kind, pretty face of a woman greeted him. Her irises were the same shade of magenta as he has as were the streaks of red that lined at the center of their respective irises. She was garbed in a jumpsuit of sorts; a buttoned gown of white and blue with green linings robed her upper body while a blue stocking of sorts reached towards her feet to act also as boots. A slight bulge in her stomach gave away her pregnancy to Ao.

The woman smiled as one hand held her steady to her IFO, and the other to her stomach. "Hello my name is Eureka, nice to meet you!"

Eureka noticed the other's features as her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, your hair is..."

Ao whispered in wonder and shock "Mom..."

* * *

2025 A.D. Earth: Pacific Ocean, within Japanese Territory- Approximately Eighteen Hours Before Data Retrieval

It was not long before introductions between mother and son (although only the son knowing of their true relations and had lied to Eureka of dyeing his hair) that both of their stomachs grumbled, laughed, and decided that their needs were to be tended first. Ao volunteered to fish while Eureka searched through the ship for any other signs of salvageable food. She soon returned later and with a hint of a smile, gave Ao a red suit in which she said it would be better than wearing his tight form-fitting jumpsuit all the time. In the growing twilight, the two Nirvash stood, both seemingly guarding the floating craft and regarding each other in silent solemnity.

In the hour that followed, Ao decided to use his emergency rations for food; having failed to catch anything with that last catch almost got him dragged out into the sea if it weren't for Eureka. Who, despite her delicate state had managed to drag him up before he fell to the water that had claimed his rod and bait. She then told him that she and the baby were fine and that she is six months pregnant.

Shouldering the rations, he rappelled down the RA272 Nirvash and followed Eureka inside the ship.

"Welcome to the Gekko!." She said, although Ao noted her voice had a bittersweet tone to it. She pressed a button on her suit as they entered the dark corridors of the ship. At once, the button flashed and illuminated the path beyond them.

"The Gekko?" Ao inquiringly asked.

Eureka motioned around her surroundings. "Its the ship's name."

They rounded a corner to the direction in which Ao mentally noted was heading towards the assumed bridge of the ship. Strangely on the other side of the corner, there seemed to be a shop. Its row of shelves now lay barren and empty of supplies. Even with the help of his half Coralian eyes, Ao could barely see the counter's cash register on the far side of the shelves in the darkness of the ship. A few moments afterwards, he could see the sign for the rest rooms.

On one side of the wall Ao noted an emergency escape route sign and another post which denoted the areas within the ship:

The Cargo, Hangar, Medical Bay, and Engineering Bay were denoted as being behind of their present destination. The Function Room, the Baths and Commander's quarters were situated on a corridor they had just past. Presently, they were heading towards the Crew's living quarters which seemed to be split by two corridors and beyond it were the Bridge and a quick elevator towards the Hangar.

Eureka, suddenly paused by a door.

"I'll just search this room for a bit."

She pressed a few keys from a panel and the door slid open. Ao peered inside and from the glare of Eureka's suitlight, he could see that the room was bare except for two bunk beds, with colorful graffiti on the walls situated on the room's right hand corner.

Some of the drawings were rough hewn drawings of flowers, the sun, large barely disfigured humanoid shapes strangely having tails of green light emitting behind them (IFOs?). Collectively, these indicated the work of children.

Eureka searched the room for a bit. At last, she reached out her hands towards a blue painted toy resembling an IFO. Smiling, she pocketed it within her gown. Seeing nothing else of note, she briefly glanced at the drawings touched them longingly with her hand, a smile drifting at the edges of her mouth.

Ao looked at her in wonder, but suspected this search was for other than finding supplies.

They left the room behind, with Ao's mind filled with questions. But before he could speak any of them out, Eureka opened the door that lead towards the ship's bridge.

Through the light provided by Eureka's suit, Ao could see the helm that was situated at the center of the room. Moonlight streamed through the paneling of the ship's bridge, giving them an impression of being open to the world and showing them a clear view of the dark world outside. At the bridge's far side, empty posts filled in attention towards the horizon of the ocean. Right bellow the helm was the ship's pilot seat and Ao could see the communication post beside it, its unattended headset lying on an empty screen.

They walked towards a corner on the ship's bridge where there was a comfy couch and table waiting for them. An LED torch was already prepared just as the pile of whatever food Eureka had found on the ship was heaped upon the table. The amount of it didn't seem enough to fill one's stomach.

"Sorry, there wasn't enough supplies left on this ship."

"It's alright, I've got rations."

In the light of the torch, they prepared a meal out of the rations and before they could eat Ao, was scolded a bit by his mom for bad table manners. Eureka found the food to be quite delicious despite them being emergency rations. Later on they discussed about the Scub Burst Events (which she termed as a Seven Swell), Generation Bleu and then the world Eureka had come from; where the entire world was covered with the Scub and that people lived on top of them. She showed him a Compact Drive which she explained how the people were able to function, computers and interface with the machines like the Nirvash typeZero (as she explained is the name of her Nirvash) were called Light Finding Operations (or LFOs). She then proudly explained that it was the first LFO of their time.

Are all Nirvash the basis of something? Ao inwardly mused.

Strange she had said. That his own Nirvash was similar based to the one she had mentioned a person named Renton was building.

"Hey since you're piloting this Nirvash, by any chance have you seen these people?" she procured a photograph of a couple holding hands amidst the background of a sitting white LFO, which again looks strangely like the Nirvash although with a sharper, more menacing look. The young man in the picture had dark hair with cold blue eyes. Meanwhile, the woman in the picture looked a bit more like themselves in terms of eye coloration except that her hair is in a deep shade of pink. Both of them smiled warmly at the camera.

"... with love from Dominic Sorel, Anemone and theEnd." he read the inscriptions from behind the photo.

"They are friends of mine whom have gone missing in the world I've left. Presently in our world, the Scub are disappearing and the last I thing I've heard from them is that they might have been taken away by the Scub to another place and time. That maybe, they might have arrived here through one of your Scub Burst Events?"

"No. But I can check on Generation Bleu for them while we're here." Ao replied even as he mentally composed a message he might send to the Triton later.

* * *

2025 A.D. Earth: Pacific Ocean, within Japanese Territory- Approximately One Hour And Thirty Minutes Before Data Retrieval

Ao woke up in the morning light coming from the port of the ship's Function Room. Checking on his phone, he received word from the Chief that they would rendezvous with them at their present location and that there were no such persons that Eureka had asked about last night. Though Momma Hanna assured him she would keep a look out for them.

Checking on the RA272 Nirvash's tag, Ao was relieved it was still in the Hangar where both he and Eureka had both stored their respective Nirvash.

Looking around him, he took in the sight of where he had slept:

A dusty turntable and an assortment of kitchen ware on the other side of the room filled it with a relaxed presence. On the contrary, time hasn't been so kind- here and there were signs of wear and damage from past battles.

In the light, Ao could now see the green spherical emblem with the words GEKKOSTATE at its center marked at one corner and on one counter, he saw a flicker of color from underneath one of the half-open shelves. Curious, he opened it and saw to his surprise a magazine: It emblazoned:

ray=out

in bold lettering on the left upper corner of the front page and below it was,

Crew Edition! By Stoner

The front displayed a boy dressed up in the same red suit he was wearing and donning a ridiculous helmet. The boy sat on a sunny bench with a hand up to his chest, clutching (or is it holding) something on his suit while fidgeting nervously. Upon, closer examination, Ao noted the obviously fake mustache drawn up shamelessly on the boy's upper lip.

Ao giggled at the magazine as he rolled it up and tucked it into the folds of his suit for better reading later.

As he moved towards the board, he saw miscellaneous notes and orders stuck to it with the most orders filled in by one Renton Thurston (which mostly and curiously involved the arrangement of the Gekko's cleaning shifts, cargo, foodstuffs, mechanical repairs and inventory).

'_This guy must be the crew's bus boy huh'_... Ao wondered. Curiosity getting the better of the boy as he started looking at some of the posts and one caught his attention:

A child's drawing of a crowd of people was posted on the wall and was crudely signed in rough signature: Maurice, Maeter and Linck.

Next to that is an animated photograph of the entire eighteen crew of the Gekko with Eureka's Nirvash and six other machines standing by in the background with the large Gekkostate logo as the background. Unsurprisingly, Ao could spot out his mom from the crowd: a girl, having turquoise hair and a slightly flat affect in contrast to the boy next to her- saddle brown haired and smiling despite trying hard to ignore the three children unsubtly poking his right side (with the youngest; a dark skinned little boy, using a paintbrush) in the picture- as if they're trying to distance him from Eureka.

From the looks of things Ao deduced that these must be Maurice, Maeter and Linck and the pranked boy was no doubt the same as the one from the magazine's front page.

The rest of the crew seemed pretty interesting as well: a silver haired man in a black and silver jacket with a yellow scarf around his neck had his arms around a dark haired, smiling woman in a skimpy tank top...

Just then Ao herd a step behind him and turned as Eureka focused on the photo he had held.

"I was once a member of this ship... one of the Gekkostate." Eureka began as she approached Ao from behind. Ao froze a bit in embarrassment from snooping around his mom. But suddenly realized that Eureka herself didn't realize this and started calming himself down. '_Come on Ao, act natural, natural... Yes that's it.' _He then posted the picture back to the board.

"We were all on a journey then. It was an exciting, horrifying and a life changing experience. "

"Was the..." Ao hesitated, feeling flustered for words just as Eureka supplied for him "Baby?"

Ao nodded as he trudged on any way "... baby's father with the crew?"

A blush suddenly crept on his mother's face as she cried out "How did you know? Oh no..."

But she smiled as she told him "But it wasn't that way at first. He was a crybaby back then and kind of useless. "

"You didn't love him?" Ao asked. His suspicions about his father making him blurt out the question in a combination of fear and vindication.

"Nope" Eureka answered. At this Ao's heart floundered a beat.

Then Eureka continued, "I did. Every bit of him."

Ao's eyes widened in surprise and relief- so he wasn't abandoned... yet he caught himself, this Eureka is from a past before he was born. Maybe things might have changed by then? He wouldn't know it yet, but for now he let himself enjoy the feelings that washed him with hope that maybe his father loved him too despite Ao himself holding a grudge at him for not being here and all.

His mother held out a hand towards the photo, her fingers lovingly extended out to all of the crew. But lingered on to the spot of the five people in the center: Herself, the saddle haired boy, and the three children picking on the latter.

Ao, wondered and with a mixture of anticipation, dread and excitement- clarified; "The baby's father, is it..." hesitating a bit before finishing "... him?" he pointed at the poor brown haired boy being picked on by children. A chill swept down Ao's neck as soon as he finished his words.

Eureka nodded even as her blush forced a deeper shade of red to her features. _'So this is my father... Figures huh.' _From then on he could suddenly see the similarities, the face, his nose, the shape of the boy's body from Ao's own.

"Renton." Eureka whispered as if in a plea. A hand placed protectively on her growing child within her.

"hmm?" Ao dimly replied.

"Renton Thurston, my husband and the father of my child. He'll come for me. Always has and always will." Eureka swore, more to herself than to Ao. Her eyes held a faraway look as she stared out of the ship's windows towards the horizon.

At this revelation, Ao could not help but gape like a fish- so the bus boy, the pranked kid, the useless one: all of this was his _dad_? But then he admonished himself, if that's so then his dad would be the creator of his Nirvash... A genius!

Even as these thoughts raced through his head, the door slid open and Ao could see Ivica and Momma Hanna in the correidor. In a matter of moments, they whisked Ao aside just as Ivica introduced his greetings to Eureka even though strangely Ao had an inkling that Ivica had known her _before. _In another fifteen minutes, Ivica briefed the situation to Ao - that he and his mother had met before: only that she had by then given birth to him and explained the truth of her disappearance back then. At the same time, Momma Hanna did a medical exam of Eureka in the Medical Bay with orders to not disturb them for the time being.

In a sudden twist, Gazelle and his gang came in the Gekko along with a team of programmers and scavengers with the Gazelle Corps having the intention of taking Eureka to Generation Bleu, while the others are here to scavenge whatever's left of the Gekko because they will eventually have to sink it as both the Japanese Army Forces (JAF) and that of the Allies Forces (AF) are coming their way and soon.

But the plan to take away Eureka to Generation Bleu is rebuffed by Ivica who knew that the present Eureka must be able to return back to her world first before coming back into the past.

It's that point in time that Gazelle dicks out with his mouth and Ao in typical manner, fights him in anger. Which Ivica promptly broke up.

"Look, we don't have the time too fight each other. Both the Japanese and the Allies are coming in here for her and the ship!"

He gave a pointed look to both Gazelle and Ao. "Prepare yourselves." and with that he rounded the corridor.

Pippo whistled "Scary. That guy could sure give out a command when he wants to."

"'Course he should. That's why he's the Chief." replied Han Juno.

"Man, what a hassle. Come on guys." Gazelle ordered his men. Looking at Ao who still scowled at his direction, he ignored the boy and continued on with his gang of three.

* * *

2025 A.D. Earth: Pacific Ocean, within Japanese Territory- Data Retrieval In Session

With a bang, the world was consumed in the chaotic sound of gunfire that Ao could hear from the rumblings of the ship and through the RA272 Nirvash's reprojections. Immediately pocketing the Gekkostate crew photo and the issue of Ray=out in his hands, Ao quickly fired up his Nirvash. He'd hope that the Japanese or the Allies or who ever had attacked them would have approached them in a more peaceful manner but since this had arrived, well reality is just that.

"Mom!" Ao cried out even as he searched the most efficient way without getting himself killed- the RA272 Nirvash itself. His gut tells him most of the fighting has gone down somewhere within the Medical Bay. So in order to reach them, he'll have to go through another route in order to avoid the soldiers swarming into the Gekko.

If the Gazelle Corps and Generation Bleu could not stop whoever's attacking them-

He will. He has to.

With that, he blasted off from the ruined hangar and into the sky in Nirvash's jet form.

Through the Nirvash's sensors, he could identify the soldiers accompanying Eureka out to the deck to be Japanese with their leader guiding the pregnant woman out of the Gekko.

"Let her GO!" Ao shrieked with rage and just as he tilted the Nirvash's fuselage towards them, his efforts were foiled by a squadron of Jets which forced him into a game of cat and mouse. In all his encounters with the Secrets, compared to human fighters this should be relatively easy to shrug off. But as precious time slipped past as he pulled off all the aerial tricks he knew and even with the assistance Trapar guidance through his Coralian eyes; Ao felt he was fighting not the regular soldiers who usually fell easily behind an IFO of Nirvash's caliber, but veterans who knew how to fly their craft well in tandem: forcing the IFO within range of their sights and blocking him off before he could reach speeds that would be impossible for most aircraft to follow by taking advantage of Ao' pacifist ways of not firing at them to direct the Nirvash where they want it to go. Already, the RA272 Nirvash has sustained some damaging hits on its wings: the Japanese pilots perhaps intended to salvage this Nirvash when all this is done?

In all of his experience of IFO fighting, never before has he been outraged and frustrated with today's series of events. The events culminating into his first time piloting the Nirvash were nothing compared to what fate now has tempted right before his eyes- the chance of seeing his mother and at the same time of loosing her all in one day in after all of these years just waiting for her to come back... It's maddening.

He knew she needs to come back to her world in order for him to exist. But why is it that reality is Just. So. Cruel.

And with this fight, he knew subconsciously even as he felt something break within him: that there will be blood.

Ao roared out his frustrations and anger as he pushed the Nirvash to its maximum speed. Ao felt the g-forces pressing him deep into his seat just as he tilted the fuselage of the Nirvash _up_.

The world sharpened to a clear cut focus as Ao climbed up towards the astral ocean above him, climbing ever higher even as he knew that even this IFO will drop before he could escape the Earth's hold on him. Behind him, some of the following jet fighters still attempting to tag his IFO have begun to stall in the air even as he felt his weight began to pull

him

down.

* * *

Even from afar, Fleur gasped as she saw the scene unfold her very eyes. It was both a glorious yet horrifying scene of aerial combat. She knew Ao could be reckless at times but when pushed too far, the results were scary:

From the heavens the Nirvash dropped- no surfed down the earth. The sharp profile of the IFO's longboard glinted menacingly straight down towards towards the dense formation of jets that prevented it from coming near the Gekko; it seemed the elite of the Japanese Air Force were confident of their abilities in keeping Ao from his mother.

The Nirvash's shoulders that served as its jet form's wings were burnt and wrecked- too damaged for the Nirvash's jet form to use it now for speed and lift. Thus, the IFO crouched low upon its board, a large hand grabbing the edge of it to steady itself even as its boosters ignited to give the IFO the extra push in its radical plunge towards the fray.

As Ao approached the formation, one of the more daring jet fighters came frighteningly near the Nirvash's head- attempting to wrest the IFO from its current path.

But this time Ao had no qualms of shooting it down. The cockpit of the jet sprayed with blood a second before it blasted into oblivion as the Nirvash's head mounted machine-guns found its mark. A second later; the free hand of the Nirvash whipped out one of its Anti-Vehicular arms and fired! Its bullets screaming through the air as the Japanese Air Force scrambled out of the way at this new turn of events. Some of the jets fell through the sky as their jets were caught unawares at Ao's sudden aggression.

"Out of my way! Out!" she could hear him shouting through communications.

"No! Ao!" Fleur cried out. She rushed her IFO towards the scene.

"So our hero has killed the villain for the first time eh?" mused Elena.

"This is no time for one of your jokes Elena!" snapped Fleur as they both rushed to the scene.

* * *

"Ao!" Eureka screamed even as Colonel Endo dragged her away from the scene trying to placate that their government was doing this for the best of them all.

Suddenly, they could see one of the remains of a jet hurtling towards them! Its burning fuselage tumbled violently in the air as it spun towards their direction.

"Nirvash!" cried Eureka as she forced herself out of the Colonel's grasp and dashed. In a heartbeat, the typeZero placed itself in front of her as the wreckage exploded. In the chaos of the moment, Eureka managed to board the typeZero and sped towards the burning sky, leaving the charred and bloody remains if the Colonel.

If she could speculate, Ao was now in a case of a Rider's High, given how bloodthirsty the intentions of the pilot was having right now.

The RA272 kept on pursuing the rest of the fighters, its bullets firing haphazardly in the air. Now the enemy squadron openly fired at the RA272 while reforming into a new aerial formation that favored on guerrilla tactics, hit and run style fighting. Meanwhile, some of the jet fighters sped towards the other IFOs and the typeZero.

"Stop Ao!"

"Ao, get a hold of yourself!" shouted both Eureka and Fleur respectively from over communications.

At the sound of their voices, Ao seemed to snap out of his rage just as both IFO and LFO pulled the RA272 out of the fray. The typeZero's right arm holding onto the longboard of the RA272 in the prior's jet form, while the RA164 Alleluia held it on the other side. Both of them fired their boosters to tug the RA272 out of action.

"It's ok. I'm alright now." Although he felt suddenly sick at the memories of the men he had just killed.

At once, a wave of nausea hit him and he reached for the barf bag.

Good thing they always have these things ready.

"How did you get on the Nirvash when it's on the Hangar?" Ao asked as he wiped the edges of his mouth, noting that Eureka was outside the Gekko surrounded by soldiers the last time he saw her.

"The Nirvash came for me." Eureka answered.

"By itself?!" Ao incredulously replied.

"There's something... something like me within it." Eureka cryptically told him.

As this was going on, the RA301 Kyrie was curiously hovering just behind the typeZero. Inside it, Elena Peoples glanced at the typeZero with murderous intent.

"You'll not escape me this time!" shouted Elena just as she charged the Kyrie towards the typeZero. But before she could crash into it however, the Kyrie was suddenly blasted off course by canon fire from the remaining Japanese ships and missiles fire from their jets in their ditch attempt to get to Eureka and Ao.

"Elena!" Ao cried.

"Don't worry. She'll be fine, the Kyrie has sufficient armor plating for these kinds of attacks anyway." Fleur replied coolly. '_Thanks Elena' _she thought gratefully, dismissing her comrade's earlier outburst as a cartoon reference.

Suddenly, a Scub Burst event appeared- a pillar of light shown brightly yet strangely, this time no Scub appeared; but instead a Secret. Here was a chance to send Eureka home. The only problem now was that the Secret was blocking the way.

"We don't have time to destroy the Secret." Ao exclaimed.

Yet if this keeps up, that Event will close on us before we could send you home." Fleur finished what Ao had difficulty articulating in. Then they suddenly veered away from the bullets fired from the jets behind them!

"I'll keep them busy." volunteered Fleur as she flew off back towards the direction of the Japanese ships and their pursuing jets.

Ao then thought for a way to defeat this large Secret without spending too much time with it as his weapons were already insufficient for this large Secret.

"Hmm.. Ao, how about pressing your index finger on the middle of the Nirvash's wheel?" Eureka asked.

Following the tip, Ao pressed his finger at the center of the holographic interface of the RA272 Nirvash's wheel. It suddenly responded to Ao's touch as it flashed a message reading:

Board User Recognized

And a second later, Ao was accessed to the internal arms that even Generation Bleu's Alex couldn't open.

"Ao, fire now!" Eureka shouted. With that, the turrets unlocked through Ao fired long range explosives towards the humanoid emerging Secret, obliterating it totally before it had a chance to do anything serious.

* * *

2025 A.D. Earth: Pacific Ocean- An Hour After Sending Eureka

"Ao why did you call me mom?" That line repeated over and over in his head even as his mind reeled in the horrors of what he had done. He had been checked upon by Momma Hanna for a mental evaluation. Fortunately he was allowed to go with minimal punishments as the evaluations showed that he still retained a sound mind. Yet that he would still be monitored by the entire Team to check on him confirmed him of their unease. He was also required to report to the Medical staff of Generation Bleu every once for therapy and a report regarding his experiences with today's events.

An hour ago he had let his mom in her Nirvash pass through the Event.

He smiled at her and told her cryptically in answer to raise her baby well.

As the Event reached the typeZero, a dark hulking ruin of a large mechanical hand reached out towards it and in the blinding glare of the Event, he could barely see the ravaged form of a dark IFO. But before he could focus clearly on the ruined machine, a blast of light flashed out of the Event and signaling its end. A moment later both the typeZero and that mysterious IFO disappeared.

Ao shivered nervously, he knew that his mother came back safely because of his own existence. But something about that dark IFO had somewhat unnerved him.

The problem has now escalated for Generation Bleu. Even as they have successfully acquired the data from the now sunk Gekko, through today's events a chain reaction could spiral into something ugly soon if not handled with care. With the possibility of other time travelers within the world not to mention the Secrets and Scub, things could get bad... Really bad.

_'Lets just hope I'm still in one piece after all of this is said and done.'_

In the bridge of the Triton, he held up a photo of the Gekkostate in his hands. Well at least he has this to help him get by.

* * *

2025 A.D. Earth: Pacific Ocean- Present Time

The screen flashed as Georg finished its operations with interfacing the data of the Gekko.

Immediately, the green screen opened into a large emblem, a light green globe split into four segments by two arcs near its south pole and two reverse arcs near at its northern pole. On the central segment of the emblem a word was embossed in bold:

GEKKOSTATE

But before they could have access to any of the data, the screen flashed red as Georg detected a security program barring them from access to the software.

"All right Georg, run it through the anti-security programs." ordered Rebecka Hallstrom.

"Yes Miss Hallstrom. By the way did you know that the Co-" but was silenced as Rebecka pressed Georg's nose on the screen.

"Not today Georg. Not today..." Rebecka sighed, seriously wondering why Generation Bleu made him in the first place. Could they just make a simple sensible A.I. O.S. that does its jobs efficiently and with less quirks?

* * *

*Before It Explodes by Charice Pempengco


	3. Storywriter

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN EUREKA 7 AND EUREKA 7 AO, THAT WOULD BE BONES AND THE TEAM THAT MADE THE EUREKA 7 AND AO POSSIBLE.

(EXCEPT I OWN WHAT I WILL ADD HERE SOON [OR NOT])

REVIEWS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE MOST WELCOME!

* * *

Memories Through The Compact

Chapter 3 – In Between Days

June, 2025 A.D. Iwo Jima, Okinawa

Naru pondered upon the knowledge that the Scub had bestowed upon her as she rolled in her bed in her bedclothes. The darkness of her room had wrapped her in its embrace; its stillness comforted her as she immersed herself upon the thoughts of the Scub's memories.

Through strange and feverish dreams it had told her of their original arrival from another time, another world:

The Scub being half dead at a time from impacting the satellite named Eureka on their way down into the surface of Earth; of how it devoured everything for their own survival and the exodus of Man, leaving them as the sole sentient organism. Year after year they multiplied and assimilated until they had sensed it almost breached the Limit of Life. In desperation, they formed a collective mind; the Command Cluster so that in order to prevent total destruction, they would numb themselves and to put the majority of them to sleep, leaving the rest to the Command Cluster.

Thus it was that Naru learned that this particular Scub had no other memory other than an overwhelming drive to flee upon this world as soon as it awoke from its deep dormancy in that other Earth. By using the quartz it had traveled, bringing it here into her world.

Despite the reports of people dying because of the Scub Infestation, from the Scub's knowledge she had found out that the Scub Coral had no intentions of harming people. In fact, the fragments within people only grow to a substantial limit before they gain conscience enough to consciously induce themselves into dormancy or the person dies before that, or someone could "order" it's dormancy before anything harmful happens.

That someone Naru believed, could be her! It would bolster the peace lacking in this war torn world!

As the days passed with her commune with the Scub, it had dawned to her the young girl knew that she had a greater purpose. If Ao had one in the form of piloting the Sea Giant that had protected their home, their world even, then maybe hers is the peace that would come from the enlightenment coming from the Scub.

But before any of that, she had to show the village the Truth! It was not some mindless plant to be dug up and be mined for power. Naru had to see to that before anything else less the people will blow up the rest of her plans of a better tomorrow.

Opening her eyes, Naru could see the faint glow of the approaching dawn that heralded the new day and coincidently, the new month.

* * *

July, 2025 A.D. Generation Bleu HQ, Switzerland

Christophe Blanc sipped his personal brew of coffee in his hand.

Breathing out a sigh of contentment, the president of Generation Bleu stepped out of the main doorway that led out of the sunlit interior of the large underground complex that served as Generation Bleu's headquarters.

Panels of reinforced glass and steel held up the massive superstructure that housed Communications and the Catapult above him while at the same time giving ambience and electrical power throughout the sprawling city below.

The whole compound was actually the result of what ended up after excavating and constructing on the remains of a huge Scub Coral that landed here back in the 90's. The mass of excavated structures and technology found on the depths of that Scub held firm to create the structure that housed Generation Bleu as it is today.

As he strolled around the result of the years of his hard work, Blanc reflected upon the month conferences that he had with not only with the Japanese, but his Company's sponsors and the media.

The Japanese had argued that the Nirvash TypeZero and the ship Gekko had belonged with them, that they had no right in occupying it as Generation Bleu had been assigned with handling the G-Monsters and the extraction of the Scub's Quartz. Worse, when the Japanese government had come to claim what was under their domain; Generation Bleu had forcefully denied them their due- and then killing off not only the respected war veteran Endo, but also 15 of their best soldiers with IFO's as Team Pied Piper escaped the fray.

Blanc sighed, of course they want the ship and the IFO.

Every nation worth its salt would like to have the impressive firepower an IFO could give. Imagine the leverage it would give in terms of military might!

But not everyone has the level of technical advantage such as theirs because even America's latest prototype IFO, the Eisenhower, was crap compared to the IFO Kyrie.

And that is why Generation Bleu handles most IFOs and problems only IFO's of their making could take.

However ironical as it seems, it is the emergence of the Eisenhower's and other more ingenious future IFO models that heralds the end of this international de facto compromise.

Blanc sighed as he turned his thoughts back towards one of the many conferences he'd presided in.

One of the international conferences with Japan stood out as this Colonel Nakamura was especially theatrical on that tragic lost on their soldiers, the "ruthlessness" these so called guardians of theirs had done to their fellow men and demanded that Generation Bleu be held responsible.

The guy also made a show of the hidden tech found within the Scub and the advanced technology Generation Bleu had, making accusations on what else Generation Bleu might be hiding.

'_Such an annoying guy'_, Blanc had thought as he again took a sip of coffee. It is the first time in recorded history that Scub actually materialized right above the Earth's atmosphere.

A dangerous situation as anything that was deep within the Scub would be discovered before their intervention- and relative safe keeping. Things better kept secret from the people, ought to remain secret from the public.

'_Well, that's done with_.'

The President sighed, despite Scub research being within their realm of jurisdiction, people tend to suspect and doubt them now that there's been blood on their hands.

That wouldn't do good as countries envious of their technological status tend to take these kinds of situations to their advantage.

Speaking of dangerous machines... Blanc turned his attention to the reports he received from the Triton regarding their latest foray.

What the hell were those jets?!

Despite being thirty of them in the official count in their video feeds of the Triton. Those guys weren't your ordinary fighter pilots considering they were able to push the RA272 Nirvash to its limits.

On that thought, The President decided he might look back into the video feeds on the aerial battle for a while with one of their Aeronautics Expert for any clues.

Suddenly changing his sights towards their Engineering Sector, Blanc's shabby blue suit flapped unceremoniously as he took a sharp turn towards his new destination.

As the man passed by the buildings leading towards the large tube-like structures that served as their tram systems, He could not help but think back on the recent developments regarding the Gekko's data; the A.I. Georg's cohesive broad data organizing module; _Storywriter_, has made a more palatable experience to review and study the hours of video footage and data files.

But because of the sensitive nature of the events surrounding the Gekko's data two months earlier (for all they knew it may affect the entirety of time-space itself), only the highest top level chairs dedicated to the Generation Bleu were allowed to view the entirety of the Gekko's files and with the suggestion of Ivica Tanovic of Pied Piper- Ao.

Despite protocol, he had to give a point to Ivica; the boy had a right in this.

A streak of light brought back Blanc's attention from his thoughts as he saw a ship racing up towards the upper atmosphere. The reflected sunlight glinted off of the hull of the ship as it passed through the clear sky.

Pretty soon it will reach space and utilizing the Earth's gravity and slingshot its way across space.

* * *

_Eureka held her hands above her, reaching towards the sky_

"_Its here!"_

_The boy blinked back in surprise!_

Just as a slap in the cheeks woke up a certain turquoise haired youth from his reverie,

July, 2025 A.D. The Alps, Swiss-side, Switzerland

"I said we're here!" Fleur Blanc shouted at the boy's pathetically groggy face.

"Hrhhm?! Ah Right! I'm coming!" Ao blundered about as he stepped out of the lift

..and floundered pathetically on the powdered snow.

The boy cursed himself as he looked down on his feet:

A snowboard was strapped onto his right foot. Its sides cut into the snow just as his face did on the powdered ice before him.

Elena sighed irately. Her woolen bunny designed-cap hid her dyed pink hair as she picked up the boy's arm and with a blur of movement, dragged him off the lift area. The boy's green snowboard scratching on the snow in contrast to the timed crunch of Elena's board and foot as she lead him some ways up the steepening slope.

"I swear the pilot of a skiing gundam would get something out of his machine!" she grunted.

"It's not hmpf... A gundam!" Ao argued belatedly. His mouth shoveled up snow while his cheeks chaffed the ice every now and then as his face came in contact with the frozen ground.

Despite the visors blocking off the glare of the sun and the occasional snow blast, Ao could see the minute Trapar that swirled around the mountainside. The slanting ice before him gave way to the mounds of snow that dotted the steep landscape. Beyond their side of the mountain, trees reached for the skies with their claw-like frozen branches.

The view was gorgeous to behold. Totally, different from the tropics where he was used to in Iwo Jima. Despite living now in the Switzerland, he could still not get used to this type of scenery.

If only Elena could stop dragging him across the snow...

And with that, the bunny capped girl suddenly just left him there. Ao could hear her crunches fading off as she left him raw in the snow.

Ao's face burned in the frost as he picked himself up from the ice. His cobalt hued gloves crunched the snow as he stood up. As he came shakily up too his feet despite the slight inline and his frostbitten face, Fleur came into his vision, the flaxen haired pilot held her arms up to keep him still before he could collapse in the slope.

"Okay Ao, just keep that board side up and center yourself, come on." Fleur smiled a bit as Ao slowly regained his composure amidst the slope. Her hands slowly letting him go...

"See ya love birds!" Elena voice echoed up to them even as she disappeared around a snow drift.

With that Ao unceremoniously flopped back on his blue jacket.

The girl in front of him shook her head as she again helped the boy up.

"Hey it's not like that!" Fleur shrieked back to the soon fading figure of the other IFO pilot.

"...and you promised him you'll teach him too you know!" Fleur muttered darkly as the girl crouched to help the boy.

Ao flushed in embarrassment as he pulled himself together, hoping that the frost earlier had already rendered his face red enough to cover it up.

'_Hey! It wasn't my fault that I'm in here in the first place._' The boy retorted.

Looking back, Ao hadn't realized he fell asleep after the first six segments that Georg had showed him, the last thing he remembered was the part where the boy Renton had pulled off a major prank on a military installation somewhere and the next thing Ao knew was waking up with the T.V. off and his phone ringing (apparently Georg immediately shuts everything off when it sensed Ao losing consciousness).

Bringing the phone up to his ears, the boy received a call from an animated Elena saying that the Team had a day off and as she and Fleur knew how to snowboard, had invited him to a skiing trip in the Alps, promising to teach him along the way.

And here they were, with at least one of them keeping the promise.

For a good half of that frigid afternoon, it was Fleur who taught him some of the essential things to know about snowboarding. Shoulders being parallel to the board, balance, how to turn, to break, to stop, a bit of gliding down the slope and back.

But that was nothing to what happens in the next few heartbeats,

The sound of rapid crunches was Ao's only warning before it happened.

"Ao Fukai! Ready..." And with a good solid kick to the ribs, Elena sent the boy down the slope with an initial burst of speed.

"...to Launch!"

Either from the excitement or the fear to stop himself properly, the boy proceeded skid haphazardly straight down the slope, yelling out his surprise as his board leapt forward across the expanse of powdery ice. His legs too stiff with adrenaline to steady himself as Ao scratched his way down.

"Elena!" Fleur vehemently voiced even as she proceeded to accelerate down the slope after the boy. Her board carving up the snow before her.

"Keep your balance Ao!" the flaxen haired girl called to the boy.

"Hey, it's called by the way, a dynamic entry. The bird has to start flying sometime." Elena mused. The board on her side suddenly found its way on her feet as she kicked down the snow before her.

"Finally! This is SO going to be fun!" she hollered to the cold mountain air, a mad glint in her eyes.

Ao didn't know what possessed him to press on with this mad slide. Either being out of his wits or the adrenaline aside, there was something as he skid down the slope, the slightest tilt of his shoulders sending him either left or right, to either his death off a cliff or crashing into a tree. Shakily but surely, the boy slowly gained confidence in himself.

'_I can do this! I can do this!' _The mantra worked when he piloted the Nirvash the first time, and hopefully it'll help him now. He kept his shoulders as steady as he could. It would only take a slight change of posture the boy knew, and he'd be tumbling into a new brand of frozen pain.

Ao took a steady breath; he destroyed a handful of Secrets, compared to this... this should be a piece of cake, the boy shakily rationalized.

The snow bellow him was but a white blur as his board cut the ice. Traces of where pervious boards and skis dotted the slope with a scratch or so, but those ruts were tame enough for the boy to pass it by with his board.

And then it came.

He was actually quite lucky that he didn't have to encounter these things in his generally straight drift down the mountain side:

Mounds of accumulated snow dotted the mountainside. It was where both snowboarders and skiers used as a natural platform for their tricks- and for a beginner, a quick catalyst for disaster.

"Ao look out!" Fleur called.

But the boy did not heed that warning. Deaf as the boy was amidst the adrenaline pumping in his system.

The blonde pilot expertly maneuvered herself towards the boy. But even she knew at this rate, he was on his own; her own speed wasn't enough to catch up to him.

Fleur knew it fell upon him: to stop, to turn, or to fly.

Ao saw and knew. Yet the thrill and that yearning- to feel how his IFO, his parents had felt to fly- no,

'_...what had they called it?'_

' _Lifting' _The boy's mind registered even as his board met the incline of snow.

"I'm doing this!"

And fly he did.

* * *

*In Between Days by The Cure

To: E, Juubi no Ryuu, E7 fandude, Renn-Thanks guys! Glad you guys like the story!

To: XKinhoshiX- XD Thanks for the like! And to answer your first post, you might want to check out the prologue again.

To: DarkLightSerafimon- Thanks and as for your question; we'll see about that soon, ;)

To: SilentRaider52- Thanks! I usually shift writing between this and my other fanfic (which you guys might want to check out on my page). I constantly edit parts on my fanfics to clarify and correct stuff I unintentionally leave behind. Besides that, I don't see myself quitting this fanfic anytime soon despite the headaches surrounding time travel and research on the story settings, backgrounds etc. It's quite the challenge juggling two fanfics and my life! :))

To: P- Thanks for the review and like! I do like it when emotions and images are being reflected as much as I am able through my writings in order to give readers the perspective Ao and Eureka felt as they traverse the downed Gekko and afterwards, the battle for not only the ship per se, but the reality of the trauma one goes through when something dear is being taken away from them.


	4. In Between Days

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN EUREKA 7 AND EUREKA 7 AO, THAT WOULD BE BONES AND THE TEAM THAT MADE THE EUREKA 7 AND AO POSSIBLE.

(EXCEPT I OWN WHAT I WILL ADD HERE SOON [OR NOT])

REVIEWS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE MOST WELCOME!

* * *

Memories Through The Compact

Chapter 3 – In Between Days

June, 2025 A.D. Iwo Jima, Okinawa

Naru pondered upon the knowledge that the Scub had bestowed upon her as she rolled in her bed in her bedclothes. The darkness of her room had wrapped her in its embrace; its stillness comforted her as she immersed herself upon the thoughts of the Scub's memories.

Through strange and feverish dreams it had told her of their original arrival from another time, another world:

The Scub being half dead at a time from impacting the satellite named Eureka on their way down into the surface of Earth; of how it devoured everything for their own survival and the exodus of Man, leaving them as the sole sentient organism. Year after year they multiplied and assimilated until they had sensed it almost breached the Limit of Life. In desperation, they formed a collective mind; the Command Cluster so that in order to prevent total destruction, they would numb themselves and to put the majority of them to sleep, leaving the rest to the Command Cluster.

Thus it was that Naru learned that this particular Scub had no other memory other than an overwhelming drive to flee upon this world as soon as it awoke from its deep dormancy in that other Earth. By using the quartz it had traveled, bringing it here into her world.

Despite the reports of people dying because of the Scub Infestation, from the Scub's knowledge she had found out that the Scub Coral had no intentions of harming people. In fact, the fragments within people only grow to a substantial limit before they gain conscience enough to consciously induce themselves into dormancy or the person dies before that, or someone could "order" it's dormancy before anything harmful happens.

That someone Naru believed, could be her! It would bolster the peace lacking in this war torn world!

As the days passed with her commune with the Scub, it had dawned to her the young girl knew that she had a greater purpose. If Ao had one in the form of piloting the Sea Giant that had protected their home, their world even, then maybe hers is the peace that would come from the enlightenment coming from the Scub.

But before any of that, she had to show the village the Truth! It was not some mindless plant to be dug up and be mined for power. Naru had to see to that before anything else less the people will blow up the rest of her plans of a better tomorrow.

Opening her eyes, Naru could see the faint glow of the approaching dawn that heralded the new day and coincidently, the new month.

* * *

July, 2025 A.D. Generation Bleu HQ, Switzerland

Christophe Blanc sipped his personal brew of coffee in his hand.

Breathing out a sigh of contentment, the president of Generation Bleu stepped out of the main doorway that led out of the sunlit interior of the large underground complex that served as Generation Bleu's headquarters.

Panels of reinforced glass and steel held up the massive superstructure that housed Communications and the Catapult above him while at the same time giving ambience and electrical power throughout the sprawling city below.

The whole compound was actually the result of what ended up after excavating and constructing on the remains of a huge Scub Coral that landed here back in the 90's. The mass of excavated structures and technology found on the depths of that Scub held firm to create the structure that housed Generation Bleu as it is today.

As he strolled around the result of the years of his hard work, Blanc reflected upon the month conferences that he had with not only with the Japanese, but his Company's sponsors and the media.

The Japanese had argued that the Nirvash TypeZero and the ship Gekko had belonged with them, that they had no right in occupying it as Generation Bleu had been assigned with handling the G-Monsters and the extraction of the Scub's Quartz. Worse, when the Japanese government had come to claim what was under their domain; Generation Bleu had forcefully denied them their due- and then killing off not only the respected war veteran Endo, but also 15 of their best soldiers with IFO's as Team Pied Piper escaped the fray.

Blanc sighed, of course they want the ship and the IFO.

Every nation worth its salt would like to have the impressive firepower an IFO could give. Imagine the leverage it would give in terms of military might!

But not everyone has the level of technical advantage such as theirs because even America's latest prototype IFO, the Eisenhower, was crap compared to the IFO Kyrie.

And that is why Generation Bleu handles most IFOs and problems only IFO's of their making could take.

However ironical as it seems, it is the emergence of the Eisenhower's and other more ingenious future IFO models that heralds the end of this international de facto compromise.

Blanc sighed as he turned his thoughts back towards one of the many conferences he'd presided in.

One of the international conferences with Japan stood out as this Colonel Nakamura was especially theatrical on that tragic lost on their soldiers, the "ruthlessness" these so called guardians of theirs had done to their fellow men and demanded that Generation Bleu be held responsible.

The guy also made a show of the hidden tech found within the Scub and the advanced technology Generation Bleu had, making accusations on what else Generation Bleu might be hiding.

'_Such an annoying guy'_, Blanc had thought as he again took a sip of coffee. It is the first time in recorded history that Scub actually materialized right above the Earth's atmosphere.

A dangerous situation as anything that was deep within the Scub would be discovered before their intervention- and relative safe keeping. Things better kept secret from the people, ought to remain secret from the public.

'_Well, that's done with_.'

The President sighed, despite Scub research being within their realm of jurisdiction, people tend to suspect and doubt them now that there's been blood on their hands.

That wouldn't do good as countries envious of their technological status tend to take these kinds of situations to their advantage.

Speaking of dangerous machines... Blanc turned his attention to the reports he received from the Triton regarding their latest foray.

What the hell were those jets?!

Despite being thirty of them in the official count in their video feeds of the Triton. Those guys weren't your ordinary fighter pilots considering they were able to push the RA272 Nirvash to its limits.

On that thought, The President decided he might look back into the video feeds on the aerial battle for a while with one of their Aeronautics Expert for any clues.

Suddenly changing his sights towards their Engineering Sector, Blanc's shabby blue suit flapped unceremoniously as he took a sharp turn towards his new destination.

As the man passed by the buildings leading towards the large tube-like structures that served as their tram systems, He could not help but think back on the recent developments regarding the Gekko's data; the A.I. Georg's cohesive broad data organizing module; _Storywriter_, has made a more palatable experience to review and study the hours of video footage and data files.

But because of the sensitive nature of the events surrounding the Gekko's data two months earlier (for all they knew it may affect the entirety of time-space itself), only the highest top level chairs dedicated to the Generation Bleu were allowed to view the entirety of the Gekko's files and with the suggestion of Ivica Tanovic of Pied Piper- Ao.

Despite protocol, he had to give a point to Ivica; the boy had a right in this.

A streak of light brought back Blanc's attention from his thoughts as he saw a ship racing up towards the upper atmosphere. The reflected sunlight glinted off of the hull of the ship as it passed through the clear sky.

Pretty soon it will reach space and utilizing the Earth's gravity and slingshot its way across space.

* * *

_Eureka held her hands above her, reaching towards the sky_

"_Its here!"_

_The boy blinked back in surprise!_

Just as a slap in the cheeks woke up a certain turquoise haired youth from his reverie,

July, 2025 A.D. The Alps, Swiss-side, Switzerland

"I said we're here!" Fleur Blanc shouted at the boy's pathetically groggy face.

"Hrhhm?! Ah Right! I'm coming!" Ao blundered about as he stepped out of the lift

..and floundered pathetically on the powdered snow.

The boy cursed himself as he looked down on his feet:

A snowboard was strapped onto his right foot. Its sides cut into the snow just as his face did on the powdered ice before him.

Elena sighed irately. Her woolen bunny designed-cap hid her dyed pink hair as she picked up the boy's arm and with a blur of movement, dragged him off the lift area. The boy's green snowboard scratching on the snow in contrast to the timed crunch of Elena's board and foot as she lead him some ways up the steepening slope.

"I swear the pilot of a skiing gundam would get something out of his machine!" she grunted.

"It's not hmpf... A gundam!" Ao argued belatedly. His mouth shoveled up snow while his cheeks chaffed the ice every now and then as his face came in contact with the frozen ground.

Despite the visors blocking off the glare of the sun and the occasional snow blast, Ao could see the minute Trapar that swirled around the mountainside. The slanting ice before him gave way to the mounds of snow that dotted the steep landscape. Beyond their side of the mountain, trees reached for the skies with their claw-like frozen branches.

The view was gorgeous to behold. Totally, different from the tropics where he was used to in Iwo Jima. Despite living now in the Switzerland, he could still not get used to this type of scenery.

If only Elena could stop dragging him across the snow...

And with that, the bunny capped girl suddenly just left him there. Ao could hear her crunches fading off as she left him raw in the snow.

Ao's face burned in the frost as he picked himself up from the ice. His cobalt hued gloves crunched the snow as he stood up. As he came shakily up too his feet despite the slight inline and his frostbitten face, Fleur came into his vision, the flaxen haired pilot held her arms up to keep him still before he could collapse in the slope.

"Okay Ao, just keep that board side up and center yourself, come on." Fleur smiled a bit as Ao slowly regained his composure amidst the slope. Her hands slowly letting him go...

"See ya love birds!" Elena voice echoed up to them even as she disappeared around a snow drift.

With that Ao unceremoniously flopped back on his blue jacket.

The girl in front of him shook her head as she again helped the boy up.

"Hey it's not like that!" Fleur shrieked back to the soon fading figure of the other IFO pilot.

"...and you promised him you'll teach him too you know!" Fleur muttered darkly as the girl crouched to help the boy.

Ao flushed in embarrassment as he pulled himself together, hoping that the frost earlier had already rendered his face red enough to cover it up.

'_Hey! It wasn't my fault that I'm in here in the first place._' The boy retorted.

Looking back, Ao hadn't realized he fell asleep after the first six segments that Georg had showed him, the last thing he remembered was the part where the boy Renton had pulled off a major prank on a military installation somewhere and the next thing Ao knew was waking up with the T.V. off and his phone ringing (apparently Georg immediately shuts everything off when it sensed Ao losing consciousness).

Bringing the phone up to his ears, the boy received a call from an animated Elena saying that the Team had a day off and as she and Fleur knew how to snowboard, had invited him to a skiing trip in the Alps, promising to teach him along the way.

And here they were, with at least one of them keeping the promise.

For a good half of that frigid afternoon, it was Fleur who taught him some of the essential things to know about snowboarding. Shoulders being parallel to the board, balance, how to turn, to break, to stop, a bit of gliding down the slope and back.

But that was nothing to what happens in the next few heartbeats,

The sound of rapid crunches was Ao's only warning before it happened.

"Ao Fukai! Ready..." And with a good solid kick to the ribs, Elena sent the boy down the slope with an initial burst of speed.

"...to Launch!"

Either from the excitement or the fear to stop himself properly, the boy proceeded skid haphazardly straight down the slope, yelling out his surprise as his board leapt forward across the expanse of powdery ice. His legs too stiff with adrenaline to steady himself as Ao scratched his way down.

"Elena!" Fleur vehemently voiced even as she proceeded to accelerate down the slope after the boy. Her board carving up the snow before her.

"Keep your balance Ao!" the flaxen haired girl called to the boy.

"Hey, it's called by the way, a dynamic entry. The bird has to start flying sometime." Elena mused. The board on her side suddenly found its way on her feet as she kicked down the snow before her.

"Finally! This is SO going to be fun!" she hollered to the cold mountain air, a mad glint in her eyes.

Ao didn't know what possessed him to press on with this mad slide. Either being out of his wits or the adrenaline aside, there was something as he skid down the slope, the slightest tilt of his shoulders sending him either left or right, to either his death off a cliff or crashing into a tree. Shakily but surely, the boy slowly gained confidence in himself.

'_I can do this! I can do this!' _The mantra worked when he piloted the Nirvash the first time, and hopefully it'll help him now. He kept his shoulders as steady as he could. It would only take a slight change of posture the boy knew, and he'd be tumbling into a new brand of frozen pain.

Ao took a steady breath; he destroyed a handful of Secrets, compared to this... this should be a piece of cake, the boy shakily rationalized.

The snow bellow him was but a white blur as his board cut the ice. Traces of where pervious boards and skis dotted the slope with a scratch or so, but those ruts were tame enough for the boy to pass it by with his board.

And then it came.

He was actually quite lucky that he didn't have to encounter these things in his generally straight drift down the mountain side:

Mounds of accumulated snow dotted the mountainside. It was where both snowboarders and skiers used as a natural platform for their tricks- and for a beginner, a quick catalyst for disaster.

"Ao look out!" Fleur called.

But the boy did not heed that warning. Deaf as the boy was amidst the adrenaline pumping in his system.

The blonde pilot expertly maneuvered herself towards the boy. But even she knew at this rate, he was on his own; her own speed wasn't enough to catch up to him.

Fleur knew it fell upon him: to stop, to turn, or to fly.

Ao saw and knew. Yet the thrill and that yearning- to feel how his IFO, his parents had felt to fly- no,

'_...what had they called it?'_

' _Lifting' _The boy's mind registered even as his board met the incline of snow.

"I'm doing this!"

And fly he did.

* * *

*In Between Days by The Cure

To: E, Juubi no Ryuu, E7 fandude, Renn-Thanks guys! Glad you guys like the story!

To: XKinhoshiX- XD Thanks for the like! And to answer your first post, you might want to check out the prologue again.

To: DarkLightSerafimon- Thanks and as for your question; we'll see about that soon, ;)

To: SilentRaider52- Thanks! I usually shift writing between this and my other fanfic (which you guys might want to check out on my page). I constantly edit parts on my fanfics to clarify and correct stuff I unintentionally leave behind. Besides that, I don't see myself quitting this fanfic anytime soon despite the headaches surrounding time travel and research on the story settings, backgrounds etc. It's quite the challenge juggling two fanfics and my life! :))

To: P- Thanks for the review and like! I do like it when emotions and images are being reflected as much as I am able through my writings in order to give readers the perspective Ao and Eureka felt as they traverse the downed Gekko and afterwards, the battle for not only the ship per se, but the reality of the trauma one goes through when something dear is being taken away from them.


End file.
